Max Notes
Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day. Writing this in NY, where the rain last week hammered away at infrastructure. Subways and roads flooded. Flash floods moved cars around like chess pieces. Stairways turned into waterfalls. Just another day on planet Earth. Nothing to see here, folks. Keep moving.
Governor Gavin Win-Some-Lose-Some-Handsome Newsom seems to be in the news a lot lately, no? He’s getting a ton of airtime to repeat the claim that he’s not interested in running for President. Joe Biden has his full support, as does Vice President Harris. ‘But, hell yes, I’ll show up to debate Meatball Ron!’ What’s that? Dianne Feinstein died? Back in the spotlight. Meet the Press. 60 Minutes. CNN. When the establishment media suddenly coordinates interviews with someone who doth professes they shant run for president, you can be sure that it’s happening. Just my take. (But come on.) As a reminder, he was married to human blowtorch Kimberly Guilfoyle. FWIW.
Anyway, Dianne Feinstein is (still) dead. Sounds harsh, but her family and her colleagues should be ashamed for allowing her to remain in office while clearly in such dramatic decline. Anyone who has cared for someone in this condition knows...
Waaaaaay back in 2021 Newsom said that if the opportunity arose, he would appoint a Black woman to Feinstein’s seat if she retired. Welp, here we are. And he followed through and still maintained the element of surprise. My hope was that Barbara Lee would get the nod as one of the most seasoned and authentic progressives in the House. But Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler, a former labor organizer and prominent figure in California politics, for Feinstein’s seat. I’m sure there will still be a battle over the seat among the Democrats, but Butler will have the power of incumbency heading into the election. I’m looking forward to learning more about her, and her union past gives me hope. The only thing that gives me pause is that she served as an adviser to Kamala Harris, who was the furthest thing from a progressive in California.
In other news…the government avoided a shutdown because of some brilliant backroom deals and classic political wrangling. Just kidding. The whole thing is so stupid. The thing that really did it for me was the round of applause they gave themselves for passing the funding bill that averted the shutdown. We’re going to have to revisit this in another month, as Matt Gaetz continues his quest to unseat House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, so we have a chance to ask ourselves why the f*ck they’re doing this all over again soon.
On that note, check out the Intercept article below for Ryan Grim’s take. Or Ryan’s grim take.
Other things I’m obsessing over:
- Ben Burgis
- Rewatchables episode on The Big Chill
- Feckless Speaker McCarthy
- Get well to Chapo’s Matt Christman
- Saratoga Springs, NY
-Max